Football glove



July 9, 1963 e. R. BRUCHAS 3,096,523

FOOTBALL GLOVE Filed Nov. 8, 1961 INVENTOR GEORGE R. BRUCHAS Filed Nov.8, 1961, Ser. No. 151,056

3Claims. (Cl. 2--159) This invention relates broadly to sports glovesand more particularly, to a glove useful to participants in the sport offootball.

- Over the years, the game of football has evolved. from primarily arunning or power play game to that of substantially a deceptive ballhandling and passing game. As is well known, the game of football isvery often played in foul weather. Whenfootball is played in foulweather the ball becomes damp, slippery, and even watersoaked, anddespite the fact that several balls may be alternately used in thecoutse of the game, they nevertheless beoorne slippery and hard tomanage. The result is that the passing attack of the teams is greatlydiminished and the deceptive ball handling greatly impaired because thequarterback or passer of the team cannot grip the ball in foul weatheras well as in fair and, too, the receivers of the ball have greaterdifiiculty in catching or holding the ball in foul weather than in fair.The foregoing difiiculties are well known, not only to the playersthemselves, but to all football sportsmen.

Gloves have been heretofore developed for use in other sports, such asgolf, archery, bowling and, of course, baseball, none of which areadapted for use in football.

I have invented a football glove which is particularly useful for allball handlers in fair or foul weather. My glove is such that the wearerwhile handling a football, whether in fair or foul weather, has morecertainty and sureness in his grip or control of the ball.

In my invention, I provide a football glove having a wrist strap, a palmportion and finger and thumb stalls with the back of the glove beingopen. The backs of the finger stalls extend only from the ends of thefingers to between the first and second joints thereof. 1 providepatches of a tenacious gripping material on the tip portions of saidthumb and finger stalls. I preferably provide elastic tension bandsacross the back of the finger stalls between the first and second jointsto secure the wearers fingers in the finger stalls. I also preferablyprovide an elastic strap attached at its ends to the palm portion of theglove and extending across the back of the wearers hand in a zoneremoved from the joints and knuckles of the wearers hand. I furtherpreferably provide additional patches of tenacious gripping materialdisposed in the pad zones of the palm of the glove.

Thus, I have invented a glove which provides not only a tenacious gn'pfor all ball handlers but also provides for the freedom, flexibility andmaneuverability of the hand and in particular the fingers so necessaryfor competent manipulation of the ball.

Another advantage of my glove is that to some extent it will protect andwarm the hand of the wearer which certainly in foul weather will be ofbenefit to the wearer in keeping his hand more manipulative than itordinarily would be in such circumstances.

Other details, objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent as the following description of certain present preferredembodiments thereof proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings, I have shown certain present preferredembodiments of the invention in which FIGURE 1 is an elevational view ofa preferred embodiment of the invention showing the palm side thereof asdisposed on a wearers hand;

FIGURE 2 is an elevational view of a preferred em- United States Patent0."

3,096,523 Patented July 9, 1963 ice bodiment of the invention showingthe back side thereof as disposed on a wearers hand;

FIGURE 3 is an elevational view of another preferred embodiment of theinvention showing the palm side thereof as disposed on a wearers hand;and

FIGURE 4 is an elevational view of another preferred embodiment of theinvention showing the back side thereof as disposed on a wearers hand.

Referring to the drawings and initially to FIGURES 1 and 2, I haveillustrated a football glove having a wrist strap 10, a palm portion 11,finger stalls 1-2 and thumb stall 1'3. The back portion 14 of eachof'finger stalls 12 extends from the end of each of finger stalls 12 toa zone between the first and second joints of the wearers fingers, asshown in FIGURE 2.

As shown in FIGURE 1, I provide patches 15 on the tip portions of lingerstalls 1'2 and thumb stall 1'3. Patches 15 are composed of a tenaciousgripping material Whose gripping quality is substantially unaffected bymoisture. I'have found that patches *15 made of neoprene are verysuitable for this purpose and provide an admirable qua'li-ty oftenaciousness when in contact with the leather of a football whether thefootball is wet or dry to thus furnish the wearer of my glove a sorenessand certainty in gripping or catching or otherwise handling a footballthat at least in foul weather would be lacking.

If the glove is properly fitted and the wrist band snugly secured, asfor instance, by snaps 16, it will remain close or olea ve to thewearers hand. However, in' another preferred embodiment, I provide anelastic strap 17, the ends of which are attached to the palm of theglove, as at references 18, and which extends across the back of thewearers hand in a zone removed from the joints and knuckles of thewearers hand, as shown in FIGURE 4. This assures that the glove willfirmly and snugly stay in place on the wearers hand. To further assurethat the glove will remain properly in place on the wearers hand, I alsoprovide elastic tension means such as bands 19 in the back portions ofthe linger stalls which substantially eliminates any possibility of theglove failing to properly stay in position on the wearers hand.

The like parts of the embodiment illustrated in FIG- URES 3 and 4 tothose in the embodiment illustrated in FIGURES l and 2 carrycorresponding reference numbers with a prime.

Referring to FIGURE 3, I further preferably provide on the palm portionof the glove additional patches 20 and 21 of a tenaciously grippingmaterial such as neoprene. These additional palm patches are preferablydisposed in the pad zones of the palm portion; the pad zones of the palmportion being that part of palm portion which lies over the heel, ball,outside edge and callous portions of the wearers palm which are commonlyreferred to as the pad zones of the palm of the hand.

It is obvious that patches may be disposed in various combinations inthe palm portion Without departing from the scope and spirit of thisdisclosure but I have found that the most useful zones in which toposition patches are those which lie over the pad portions of the palmof the wearers hand. It is also obvious that there are other materialsthat would sufiice for the above patches such as, for example, emerycloth, however, I have found neoprene to be a very suitable material forthis purpose.

It should be noted also that wrist strap 10 is disposed just short ofthe wearers wrist and thus does not interfere with wrist movement butrather allows the wearer complete freedom of wrist movement.

The glove, of course, should be made of a good grade of leather notadversely affected by moisture. I have found a leather known in thetrade as chrome leather to be very suitable for this purpose.

Thus, I have described and illustrated a football glove that providesthe wearer not only a tenacious grip on the ball to better enable him tohandle, catch or otherwise control a football but also, by virtue of itsopen back and non-interference with the wrist and the knuckles and thejoints of the fingers of the hand, provides for the freedom, flexibilityand manueverability of the wearers hand and particularly the wearersfingers so necessary for competent and confident manipulation of theball by the wearer.

While I have shown and described certain present preferred embodimentsof the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the inventionis not limited thereto but may be variously embodied within the scope ofthe following claims.

I claim:

1. A football glove comprising a wriststrap, a palm portion, individualfinger and thumb stalls, the backs of said finger stalls extending fromthe tips thereof to a zone between the first and second joints of thewearers fingers and each having an elastic portion in said zone adaptedto grip and retain said fingers in said stalls, the remaining part ofthe back of the glove being open, said glove having patches of tactilegripping material secured at the balls of the thumb and finger stalls,said glove otherwise being of a less tactile gripping material than saidpatches.

2. A football glove comprising a wristrap, a palm portion, individualfinger and thumb stalls, the backs of said finger stalls extending fromthe tips thereof to a zone between the first and second joints of thewearers fingers and each having an elastic portion in said zone adaptedto grip and retain said fingers in said stalls, said glove havingelastic strap means extending across the back of the wearers hand in azone removed from the knuckles thereof and further having patches oftactile gripping material secured at the balls of the thumb and fingerstalls and the pad portions of the palm, said glove otherwise being of aless tactile gripping material.

3. A football glove comprising a wriststrap, a palm portion, individualfinger and thumb stalls, the backs of said finger stalls extending fromthe tips thereof to a zone between the first and second joints of thewearers fingers and each having an elastic portion in said zone adaptedto grip and retain said fingers in said stalls, said glove havingelastic strap means extending across the back of the wearers hand in azone removed from the knuckles thereof, said glove being generally ofleather material with patches of neoprene material secured at the ballsof the thumb and finger stalls and the pad portions of the palm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,327,625 Dickson Aug. 24, 1943 2,459,985 Woodbury Jan. 25, 19492,465,136 Troccoli Mar. 22, 1949 2,702,906 Causse Mar. 1, 1955 2,907,046Scherr Oct. 6, 1959 2,907,047 Steinberg Oct. 6, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS1,819 Great Britain of 1873

1. A FOOTBALL GLOVE COMPRISING A WRISTRAP, A PALM PORTION, INDIVIDUALFINGER AND THUMB STALLS, THE BACKS OF SAID FINGER STALLS EXTENDING FROMTHE TIPS THEREOF TO A ZONE BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND JOINTS OF THEWEARER''S FINGERS AND EACH HAVING AN ELASTIC PORTION IN SAID ZONEADAPTED TO GRIP AND RETAIN SAID FINGERS IN SAID STALLS, THE REMAININGPART OF THE BACK OF THE GLOVE BEING OPEN, SAID GLOVE HAVING PATCHES OFTACTILE GRIPPING MATERIAL SECURED AT THE BALLS OF THE THUMB AND FINGERSTALLS, SAID GLOVE